How many teams broke stuff at the transition on to the banking in endurance?

We broke the right steering arm and I've heard of at least two other teams breaking steering components there.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mark TMV,

we didn't break anything but I was standing there to take photo at the time and it looks pretty scary for the cars coming onto the banking....

We didn't break anything but as you can see from the pic above the car was very unsettled. I was taking it very gently over the transition, the car would get upset, stomp on the gas to settle the rear, and hold on. The guys from UWA got a laugh from me afterwards when we were discussing it. With a sly little grin Pete goes, "What bumps? I didn't feel any bumps."

That was the part that they added a non-banked lane to prior to the start of the enduro, right? (I was down at the other end of the track and couldn't see what they did until the lunch break.)

So, the non-sarcastic question is: if there was a non-banked line that wouldn't upset the car available, why did you take the line that did upset the car? Was it because all the cool kids were using the banking? (okay, the second question is a *tad* sarcastic. )

There were two sections that occurred on the banking. The first was the left hander picture above. It completely crossed onto the banking, so there was no way to above it completely. The other section was the pass zone; it was fine.

I have to agree with AutoJim as I was a corner worker at the banked corner and passing zone. We had a good discussion that morning about vehicles either being upset at the transition or possible damage so we added track width to allow a lane which could be taken without hitting the banking. Was not the ideal, but we worked with what we had. By the end of endurance, I don't think anyone took the low line, and also only a few teams properly took that corner in the first place, was a double apex. Anyway, there was a lane to avoid the banking, it just would have been a little slower.

Yea, the transition sheered our steering column off. luckily the car was aimed straight after it happened and our driver didn't get rudely introduced to the wall.

Jim-Bo
Ravens Racing 07, 08

That left hander into the banked section is what buckled our rear right pushrod during my last few laps before the driver change. I was able to nurse the car around the track for the driver change, but 3-4 laps after our second driver was in, we got meatballed for dragging the body and lifting wheels.

I saw a picture of RMIT similar to the picture of Cincinnati above where at that transition they had their front left wheel a good 2-3 inches off of the ground!

RPI experienced something strange. The banking didn't cause any noticeable damage to our car. We made it through East and West without any problems. But then this summer while driver training and testing, the right front A-Arms failed. The lower one buckled while the top one got a bendy near the upright. We think the banking probably was a precursor to this; partly because this has never happened before and we've never driven any car on banking before. I have no doubt there could be a number of other factors leading to this (manufacturing, general fatigue, driver style [ahem ryan], etc.), but it's just strange. We're just lucky it didn't happen to us at competition...

Oh and driving on the bank of Michigan International Speedway was just bitchin. A freakin launch pad.

-Ian

For argument's sake (don't want to step on any toes): is it possible that the teams having problems on the banking is a result of a design flaw? Perhaps a small misalignment, which also causes a bending moment in the pushrod? Usually that's the cause for buckling (in combination with axial loading)
The funny thing is that only a small percentage of teams have had problems with the banking. I enjoyed it anyway

Miki Hegedus
Delft University of Technology